Production of stockings



May 28, 1940.

H. DI-ETRICH 2,202,144

PRODUCTION OF STOCKINGS Filed June 12, 1939 grwemm HER BER T DIE Tmch Patented May 28, 1940 UNITED STATES 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a method of producing on a fiat knitting frame a stocking which has a French foot and to the leg of which first the instep is placed under the knocking over comb,-

whereupon knitting of the sole portions begins which are made as long as the completed part of the instep which is then placed on the comb prior to completing the front portion of the foot in the manner usually followed in making French feet.

This known method is open to the objection that the central needles of the various sections remain inoperative during the production of the initial sole portions, which is highly undesirable in view of the fact that flat knitting frames, due to constant improvement, are becoming more expensive every day. Temporary stops in production should therefore be avoided as much as possible to make full and economical us'eof the machines. The old method does not comply with this requirement, not only because the central needles have to interrupt operation but because valuable time is lost in placing the first instep portions under the knocking over comb after completion of the heel portions, particularly if up-to-date frames having 28 sections are used. While the instep portions are brought under the comb a frame is stopped completely 40 and not only partly as for instance during production of the initial sole portions. Another complete stop is required again later on when the initial sole portions have been finished and the initial instep portions, still placed under the comb, have to be brought up again.

It is the object of the invention to eliminate these troubles by knitting, after completion of theheel portions and the initial instep portion,

V 55 being subsequently inserted or worked in.

PATENT OFFICE 2,202,144 a rnonncrlon 0F s'rocxmos Herbert Dietrich, Meincrsdorf, Germany Application June 12, 1939, Serial No. 278,701

. In Germany June 24, 1938 continuation of the heel portions 3 and are 45 The method according tow the i'nventionoutlined above, in'view of the subsequent completion of the sole portions. cannot be considered of course a procedure for producing a stocking in one operation. That is, however, relatively ung important, because what is especially necessary is to avoid temporary interruptions in the working of portions of the stocking and also one or more complete stoppings of the machine during production of stockings. This object is fully at- 10 tained by the invention and in such a manner that the advantages obtained are not nullified by the subsequent completion of the sole portions. The supplementary sole portions can be knit separately on a machine of simple build and [I therefore maximum efliciency, specially designed for this purpose, which can dispense with all the special devices that are indispensable in a regular fiat knitting frame and which can thus be operated at a speed greatly in excess of that 20 of ordinary machines. Such a simple machine will, furthermore, be very low in price, so that the subsequent completion of the soleportions actually constitutes an additional advance over the prior art. 1 26 The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 shows an unfinished stocking made according to the invention and partly broken away, and t,- 30

Fig. 2 shows the foot of a finished stocking.

When the leg I including the high heel portions 2 has been knit, the heel portions 3 are worked onto the high heel portions 2 in the usual 7 manner and between the heel portions 3, but 35 separately therefrom, the initial instep portion 4 is worked in. Up to the completion of the heel portions 3 the procedure in producinga stocking according to the invention is therefore practically the same .as in knitting a leg for a stocking having an English foot. After completion of the heel portions 3 the sole portions 5 laterally depending from the instep 4 and, finally, the toe 6 are knit, sothat the sole portions 5 form the shorter than required to the extent of the heel portions 3. These missing sole portions can be subsequently inserted or knit in various ways. For example, after separating the heel portions 3 from the sole portions 5 at the dash-and-dot lines I, the slack courses 8 of the sole portion 5 may be transferred to the machine for connecting thereon the supplementary sole portions III, as shown in Fig. 2; in conjunction therewith the free edges of the supplementary sole portions I0 tirely by sewing or looping, or to work them onto the transferred free longitudinal edges ll of the instep 4, or, in the latter case, to transfer the slack courses 8 of the sole portions 5 or the inner edges 9 of the heel portions 3, or both, to the machine knitting in the supplementary portions I0 so as to connect the portions III with the sole portions 5, the heel portions 3 or both in the manner usually followed in manufacturing.

A full-fashioned stocking has a sole widening toward the heel, and no difficulty is involved in shaping the supplementary portions Ill accordingly. When the supplementary portions III are worked onto the free longitudinal edges ll of the instep 4, this can be done in a particularly easy way, simply by increasingly loosening the courses of the portions l0 on the side facing the heel portions, so that the portions l0 without any additional operations are wider on the heel side than on the other. a

It may be mentioned that the supplement sole portions may be knit as a unitary piece of fabric, in which case the usual foot seam is dispensed with at this place.

The heel portions 8 may after completion be thrown off to avoid cutting of the places I.

I claim:

A method of producing on the flat knitting frame a stocking which has a French foot and to the leg of which first the heel portions and, simultaneously, between them, though separately therefrom, the initial instep portion followed by the remaining portion thereof as well as the sole portions and the toe are knitted, the sole portions forming a seamless unitary structure merely with the front portion of the instep, consisting in knitting, after completion of the heel portions and the initial instep portion, the front portion of the instep on to the initial portion without interruption and, simultaneously, starting to work the sole portions which form the continuation of theheel portions and which are thus shortened to the extent of the heel portions, and subsequently inserting or otherwise working in the portions still required to complete the sole.

HERBERT DIETRICH. 

